P s 

3537 






Class _P^'-3 Sp7 

CPRfRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



The Hand of God 




THE HAND OF GOD 

In the Museum oj the Luxembourg 

FIRST VIEW 



THE 

HAND of GOD 



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By Max Shoop 



^n Appreciation of 

Rodin's Study 

in Marble 



NEW rORK 
George H. Doran Company 



The Hand of God 

THE Master Mind had scarce conceived 
Its mighty thought divine, 
Than straight his potent touch enwrapt 
That thought in marble line. 



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THE HAND OF GOD 



THE form he hewed has symbolized 
A truth that God might utter, 
To guide our wavering souls on earth 
In dispute o'er mind and matter. 



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THE HAND OF GOD 



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UT of an unshaped, Infinite Mass, 
(So the thought of the Master ran), 
That forms Existence, whatever It be, 
Stretches a wondrous hand, 



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THE HAND OF GOD 



WHOSE lines are blurred in infinite 
strength 
To obey the Will behind, 
Which myriad years have named alway, 
God, — a Power, — yet blind. 



[13] 



THE HAND OF GOD 



B 



UT the Hand of God is a hand of 
Love, — 



The hand of an Infinite Whole 
That grasps a clod of its own self 
To make the human soul. 



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THE HAND OF GOD 

In the Museum of the Luxembourg 

SECOND VIEW 



THE HAND OF GOD 



UPON that hand appears no strain, 
Nor sign of human toil, — 
Its task is done with infinite ease. 
All human thought to foil. 



[I7l 



THE HAND OF GOD 



WITH mystic pressure unseen by Man, 
This Hand of God out-welds 
A vintage of Life of finite vein, 
As th' ethereal self-mass yields 



[19 



THE HAND OF GOD 



TO a visible form of God on Earth, 
A man and woman, — known 
To us but by external sign: 
The inner is his, alone. 



[21 



THE HAND OF GOD 



YEA, a visible form of God on Earth, 
A man and woman, born 
To live as units separate, — 
A counterpart, asunder torn. 



[23 




THE HAND OF GOD 
In the Metropolitan Museum of Art 

NEW YORK 



THE HAND OF GOD 



A SORRY work our ignorance has 
wrought 
Out of this plan, Above! — 
For the Unit-two from the Mass are 

formed 
With arms entwined in love: 



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THE HAND OF GOD 



SO closely knit that thus they seem 
To ooze together, out the Mass, 
Lip to lip, — and heart to heart; 
Sympathy divine, — their clasp. 



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THE HAND OF GOD 



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iHUS, in love, from the Mass conceived, 
By the pressure of Its own Hand, 
Came a Human Pair, with will set free, 
As God's ideal of Man. 



[29 



THE HAND OF GOD 



H 



E has let them fall from His upraised 
Hand, 



To be tossed in the world below, — 
Piteously unable to ever see 
Whence they came, or whither go! 



31] 



DEC 28 im 



mmmm,L2!; congress 
015 930 098 5 ¥ 




